The Lucerne Valley Elementary School's Early Childhood Learning Center has been officially renamed the Julia Bell Early Childhood Academy in honor of the beloved educator.
Bell was a teacher, principal and later a school board member who died in early 2013. The Lucerne Valley Unified School District's board of trustees unanimously approved the name change during its regular monthly meeting on June 10.
"I'm ecstatic that we are able to honor Julia in that way," said board president Jim Harvey.
Bell has been praised for making perhaps the largest impact ever on local students, educators and the district's educational system.
"When I first came here, she was my sparkling star," said LVUSD Supt. Suzette Davis. "She was just like an angel waiting with open arms. She was just an amazing woman."
Davis, Harvey, LVES school principal Mary Eller and the district's chief business official, Billy Wessell, met with Bell's husband, Chuck Bell, and daughter, Heather Otwell. They discussed the idea, which was greeted with enthusiasm, and emotion.
"This is such an honor," said Bell's daughter, Heather Otwell. "It's such a beautiful remembrance of her involvement in our local schools. She didn't just 'work' in the district; she poured her heart into it."
Chuck Bell remembers how Julia connected with everyone at school — students, teachers and parents.
"Her favorite role as principal was greeting and hugging each kid coming off the bus," he said. "She did that not only for the warm welcome to the day but also to find out how everyone was doing and what special needs might be required."
Last summer, Lucerne Valley Roadrunner Jo Richards spoke at a school board meeting in favor of renaming the elementary school in Bell's honor. Several other longtime community members also were present to lend their support to the idea.
"The idea was greatly appreciated by our family," Chuck Bell said.
But after the school district crunched the numbers — changing the name was estimated at costing more than $25,000 — it was decided to look at another, less expensive way to honor Bell.
Bell was born in Chicago and in the mid-1960s attended Knox College in Galesburg, Ill., where she met her future husband, Chuck Bell. They couple married in 1968 and moved to the Bell family ranch in Lucerne Valley, which the family had owned since the 1940s.
Bell alternately taught fourth grade, sixth grade and kindergarten at LVES, and her two children, Heather and David, were born in the 1970s. After going back to graduate school for her master’s degree, she was hired as principal from 1995 to 1998. She ran for the school board, serving for 14 years.
But she did even more. Bell was named Citizen of the Year in the late 1980s, a president of the Roadrunners, secretary of the Mitsubishi Cement Corporation Educational Foundation and a member of the Lucerne Valley Domestic Violence Outreach board.
"Naming the Early Learning Center for her is a great tribute to a wonderful lady and life well lived," Chuck Bell said. "She was always amazed at the number of volunteers in Lucerne Valley and the great things they did — and still do."
Last Friday, the governing board voted to hold a formal dedication ceremony at the center on Friday, Aug. 7.